Dhanush after a high post his successful Bollywood debut in “Raanjhanaa” was eagerly looking forward for his latest big ticket Tamil release in Maryan. Bharatbala who had grabbed the nation’s attention with his Vande Mataram video with A R Rahman has used the services of the ace musician for his debut film.

The film apparently based on a true-life incident about a kidnapping that happened in Sudan in 2008 about three migrant oil workers. Maryan (Dhanush) is a migrant oil worker in Sudan and gets kidnapped when he is about to return to India and get married.

The story in the first half revolves around Maryan’s life as a fisherman in a village at Kanyakumari district. There is Panimalar (Parvathi Menon) who is head over heels in love with Maryan but doesn’t get the same reciprocation from him. Things change over a period of time and love blossoms between the two. Turn of events lead Maryan to work in Sudan as he saves Panimalar over a huge debt.

The second half of the film revolves mostly depicting the life and hardship that Maryan faces in captivity and an answer to whether he manages to get out of captivity or does he face a tragic end. The movie fails to impress on many counts. First, the story might be a true-life incident but the substance is so wafer thin that it seems like there is nothing in there. Screenplay joins the bandwagon in making this film a dull affair as there are lot of scenes that are unwanted and the placement of slow numbers in inappropriate scenes making the film loose its pace badly.

In terms of acting, Dhanush has as usual come up with a brilliant performance (though this cannot be termed has his career best). Parvathi Menon has given a mature performance and has made good use of the scope given to her in the role she essays.

Supporting actors like Appukutty, Jagan, Uma Riyaz Khan and Salim Kumar play their role well. Editing by Vivek Harshan is a letdown as the pace of the film as mentioned earlier is bad. Cinematography by Marc Koninckx is nothing great to mention considering the fact that there was lot of scope for him to showcase the deserts of Sudan and the beautiful beaches of Kanya Kumari but there is nothing strikingly beautiful captured on camera that is worthy of mention.

Music by A R Rahman is flat except for a couple of songs which are already chartbusters. The background score hardly oozes any emotion as an emotionally captivating background score would have helped the pace and flow of the film immensely.

Director Bharatbala seems to have overweighed the popularity of Dhanush and A R Rahman that he completely forgot to work on the storyline and screenplay. With a running time of 145 minutes this film is a huge letdown at the box-office. It wouldn’t be surprising if the makers decide to trim the film further to save the fortunes of the film during the opening weekend.